It's awfully easy to judge others when we're not in their shoes. Use chemical weapons? Beyond the pale. Never. The moralists can't make it strong enough.
But what if. What if this country faced an existential crisis? Let's say a series of earthquakes devastated the west coast at the exact same time a killer hurricane hit the east coast. Power grids, roads, bridges, etc out of commission for weeks or months. Let's say foreign hackers chose this moment of vulnerability to wreak havoc on our communications systems, and some unknown foreign power disabled most of our surveillance and communications satellites.
There we are, more of less helpless. Suddenly we hear scattered reports of an invasion along our southern border. Not just the usual drug smugglers and illegals, but an organized force, most likely drug cartels aided and abetted by mexican army units. There are rumors of a coup in mexico and control of their military is uncertain. The invaders are well armed with armor, choppers and tens of thousands of troops. They are destroying everything in their path, burning cities, killing residents.
Our military's ability to respond is limited. Most of our domestic Army bases were knocked out by the disasters or lack the ability to move to meet the invasion. Air Force units are similarly degraded.
The National Security Council meets. The President demands options, but they have none. Jack Bauer has left the building. Conventional forces, in their current degraded situation, are indadequate to deal with the scale of the invasion. The President is told we could easily lose two thirds of the area west of the Mississippi before a counterattack can be put together, with massive loss of life and property.
He turns to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and implores him for a solution. The General takes a deep breath and begins, " Mr. President, we have two options. We can hit them with tactical nukes, but we cannot control the fallout, which will kill tens of thousands of our own people, plus the areas we hit will be unihabitable for centuries. " He pauses, and the President stares at him and says,"You said there were two option?"
"We can stop them cold with a chemical attack."
But what if. What if this country faced an existential crisis? Let's say a series of earthquakes devastated the west coast at the exact same time a killer hurricane hit the east coast. Power grids, roads, bridges, etc out of commission for weeks or months. Let's say foreign hackers chose this moment of vulnerability to wreak havoc on our communications systems, and some unknown foreign power disabled most of our surveillance and communications satellites.
There we are, more of less helpless. Suddenly we hear scattered reports of an invasion along our southern border. Not just the usual drug smugglers and illegals, but an organized force, most likely drug cartels aided and abetted by mexican army units. There are rumors of a coup in mexico and control of their military is uncertain. The invaders are well armed with armor, choppers and tens of thousands of troops. They are destroying everything in their path, burning cities, killing residents.
Our military's ability to respond is limited. Most of our domestic Army bases were knocked out by the disasters or lack the ability to move to meet the invasion. Air Force units are similarly degraded.
The National Security Council meets. The President demands options, but they have none. Jack Bauer has left the building. Conventional forces, in their current degraded situation, are indadequate to deal with the scale of the invasion. The President is told we could easily lose two thirds of the area west of the Mississippi before a counterattack can be put together, with massive loss of life and property.
He turns to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and implores him for a solution. The General takes a deep breath and begins, " Mr. President, we have two options. We can hit them with tactical nukes, but we cannot control the fallout, which will kill tens of thousands of our own people, plus the areas we hit will be unihabitable for centuries. " He pauses, and the President stares at him and says,"You said there were two option?"
"We can stop them cold with a chemical attack."
